Psalm 2 begins: “Why do the nations rage, and the people devise a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed.” The early Christians knew the meaning of these words, and they included them in one of their earliest recorded prayers (Acts 4:24-27). The context of this prayer was the persecution of the Church by the authorities at Jerusalem. That is to say, the psalm’s meaning, to those Christians, was not something in the distant past; it was something contemporary to ongoing Christian history. Psalm 2 is about messianic conflict; it is a Christological interpretation of history. The Messiah proclaims: “The Lord said unto Me: ‘You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.’” These words, partly reflected at the Lord’s Baptism (Matt. 3:17) and Transfiguration (Matt. 17:5 and 2 Peter 1:17), came to express the essential Christological faith of the Church. This verse is cited explicitly in the apostolic preaching (Acts 13:33) and directly answers the major question posed by Christian evangelism in every age: “What do you think of the Christ? Whose Son is He?”

“This day,” God says, “today have I begotten You.” So, early in the Book of Psalms is the Christian mind elevated to eternity, that undiminished “today” of Christ’s identity – Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Therefore, we sing with the psalmist, “Be wise now, you kings; be instructed, you judges of the earth; worship the Lord with reverence, and rejoice with trembling; Do homage to the Son…Blessed are all that put their trust in Him!”(Reardon, p. 3-4)